Komatsu to support reforestation initiative

A Komatsu hydraulic excavator helps prepare a site for planting as part of Green Forests Work reforestation efforts in Appalachia.Business Wire photo

ROLLING MEADOWS -- Heavy equipment manufacturer Komatsu announced it is partnering with Green Forests Work, a nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring more than a million acres of formerly mined lands in the Appalachian region of the eastern United States and spreading proper reclamation efforts worldwide.

Since 2009, GFW has planted nearly 2.5 million trees across approximately 4,000 acres in Appalachia, but there are nearly 1 million acres left to reforest. Working together, GFW and Komatsu aim to restore approximately 1,000 acres of forest in West Virginia's Monongahela National Forest over the next three years.

"Our partnership and work together in the Monongahela Forest will accelerate the work to properly reclaim these formerly mined lands and create multiuse, sustainable forests to help revitalize local economies in transition from the former coal-based economy of the region," said Dr. Christopher Barton, president and founder of Green Forests Work.

Komatsu's 2019 contribution to the project provided the maximum investment required to allow GFW to obtain available matching funds from The U.S. Forest Service. The cooperation between corporate, nonprofit and government entities aims to help establish healthy, productive forests on formerly mined land on the Mower Tract of the Monongahela National Forest and to improve water quality in the Lambert Run watershed.